Christmas With The Billionaire (6 page)

Was she going soft? Running her hands down the front of her suddenly ridiculous-seeming outfit, she had to ask herself why a man like Jason Kent would want to be seen with an overstuffed elf. She was hardly femme fatale material, especially tonight, dressed in a costume one of the circus performers had lent her. When he glanced across, she guessed he had to be thinking he’d had a narrow escape tonight—

“Oh, why don’t you just go?” she muttered, frustrated.

“I beg your pardon, dear?”

“Sorry, Lily—I was just thinking out loud.”

“I do that all the time,” Lily confessed. “But when you’re my age they think you’re senile if you talk to yourself.”

“I certainly don’t think you’re senile. You’re my comrade in arms. Did you enjoy meeting Jason Kent?”

“Very much,” Lily said warmly, surprising her.

“Goodness. So, what did He-Who-Hates-Christmas have to say?”

“Hates Christmas?” Lily looked at her strangely. “He didn’t give me that impression. That’s why I’ve come over to speak to you. Jason Kent has very kindly invited a group of us to Christmas lunch on him at one of the best restaurants in town. I don’t normally go out, as you know, but I’ve enjoyed myself so much tonight, I’ve decided to accept. I just wanted to make sure that you were coming.”

Kate blinked. “I haven’t been invited.”
 

“Not yet,” Lily assured her with a confident smile.
 

“I wouldn’t hold your breath.” Kate glanced across the room to see Neville waylaying Jason. She’d never get rid of him at this rate.

As if he found the sight of her chewing her lip and frowning amusing, Jason turned to slant a look at her through half-closed eyes.
 

Game on.

Chapter Seven

She was exhausted by the time she finally closed the door on the last visitor. And frustrated because everything had been so up in the air with Jason. Her fault. He couldn’t be used to women pulling back. Not that he’d said anything. He’d been impossible to read. One of the last to leave, he’d been pleasant, but that was it.
 

A knock at the door made her groan. Someone must have forgotten something...
 

“Jason.” She was shocked. Leaning back against the wall, he was smiling that faint, sexy smile while his big dog stood panting at his side. So this wasn’t a romantic visit. More like an invitation to go running with him, and she was beat.

“Get the dog,” he said, pulling away from the wall. “I’ll take him out for you. He can bed down with Woolly tonight. No need for you to wait up. Go to bed. Leave everything to me.”

Mocking was the norm from this man, but Jason’s caring side was something she had never expected to see. “Thank you.”

Sleep-walking into the kitchen, she grabbed the leash. She handed it to him. Briefly, a length of plaited leather connected them.

“Go to bed,” he murmured when she let her end drop. “You look exhausted.”
 

“Alright, night. See you in the morning. Thank you again.”
 

“No problem.”
 

She woke the next morning with a head banging like a drum—until she realized that the sound was actually a squad of cleaners blitzing the apartment.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she exclaimed, hurrying in to the main salon in her PJ’s, only to realize she didn’t know any of them.
 

“Mr. Kent’s orders,” their leader said.
 

Jason Kent: Good Samaritan. She warmed at the thought. This was another side to a complex man.
 

She wandered back into her bedroom and saw the Christmas elf outfit, lying discarded on the floor. It looked like she felt: crumpled, with the stuffing knocked out of it. Grabbing her robe, she pulled it on and went to the kitchen where everything was pristine again. She stood and listened for a while, but the cleaners had let themselves out, and everything was silent. Yappy’s Christmas stocking full of dog treats looked a little sad hanging from a handle on the wall. Lifting it, she let it drop. This was the first time since leaving home that she felt like crying because she was alone.

Oh, for goodness sake, pull yourself together!
 

With a determined sniff, she straightened up. Glancing at her watch, she saw it was midday.
Midday?
How had that happened? No wonder it was so quiet. Everyone in the building would be at Jason’s lunch. Maybe there was someone in at the penthouse—maybe he had staff? She wasn’t even sure, but if she could collect Yappy, at least they could go for a run. Throwing a hoodie over her PJ’s, she hunted for shoes, and gave up. She was only running upstairs.

She’d never been to the penthouse floor before. The top of the building appeared to be made from black glass from the outside. Inside it was like entering Valhalla, a place reserved for the gods. The silence was absolute, and the opulence was overwhelming. Polished oak floors and state-of-the-art lighting provided the perfect setting for vast glass walls offering the most stunning views over London. Impressive double doors led to the only suite: Jason Kent’s suite.

She knocked and waited, but no one answered. Her heart was knocking louder than her fist. And all for nothing. He wasn’t in. He would be at the lunch too, she reasoned. But where were the dogs?
 

No point waiting here. She went downstairs again, only to discover she had locked herself out of the apartment.

“Kate?”

“Jason!” She jumped with shock as he came running up the stairs with the dogs at his heels. “I thought you were out.”
 

He laughed as he reached her floor and stopped. “Have you been checking up on me, Ms. Black?”
 

“No.” Standing up, she did her best to look in control of the situation, in PJ’s and bare feet.
 

“How long have you been sitting here?” he asked, giving her a lazy once-over.

“Not long.”

His mouth began to curve in a smile. “Okay. So you were looking for me when you got locked out.”

“I was not. I was looking for my dog.”

His smile broadened. “Your dog?”

“Feels like my dog.”

“And your phone’s inside the apartment?”
 

She shrugged and gave up at that point. She was not in control. This was a mess.
 

“No phone. No money, no Jack on the door,” Jason ticked off the problems one by one. “No concierge, no one left in the building, apart from Ms. Black in bare feet and PJ’s on a raw winter’s day? Is that a fair summary?”

She huffed and stood confronting him.

He’d forgotten how small she was compared to him—how combative, and how cute she’d looked in that ridiculous elf costume last night, when he’d kissed her and felt those luscious breasts pressing like soft cushions against his chest. And now she made him feel protective. What was happening to Jason Kent, the man with the heart of stone?
 

“I thought you’d gone out for lunch with the rest,” she said, her green gaze appraising him.

“I’ve been running.”

“So I see.”

“You don’t seriously think I’d take these two to a restaurant, do you?” He glanced at the dogs. “I’m dog-sitting today, remember?”

She smiled back. “Sorry. I should have remembered.”

“You did remember. You thought I’d leave them on their own.” He stared at her reprovingly.
 

“I guess I’m getting to know you a little better each day.”

“You’ll make me blush, Ms. Black.”

“I doubt that, somehow.”

“Lucky for you I have the master key.”

“You do. Oh my goodness.” Her face lit at the thought of getting back into the apartment, but then she frowned. “Do you mean you could have walked in uninvited at any time?”

He laughed. “If I’d wanted to.”

Her smile died.

“Don’t worry. The keys are kept in a time-locked vault.”

“But you can get in?”
 

“For you.”
 

She searched his face, and then relaxed. “Thank you.”
 

“My pleasure, Ms. Black.”
 

She watched Jason as he took the stairs two at a time. She felt the lack of him immediately and was annoyed with herself for that, until she reasoned that he had the sort of presence that could do that to a woman. And wasn’t this better than her plan to brave the sidewalk in bare feet, where she would try and hail a cab, if such a thing were even possible on Christmas Day? She’d thought if she could get to the restaurant, she could ask Jack for his master key.
 

What a screw up! And she was usually so organized. She smiled to herself and blamed Jason. He was quite a distraction. No wonder she’d never had this type of problem on the farm—not that they locked doors up on the moors. Everything was safe at home, including her heart.
 

She looked up as he jogged downstairs with the key. He opened the door for her and held it wide. “Merry Christmas, Ms. Black.”

Was he going already?

Gone.

He was already halfway up the stairs.
 

“Aren’t you going to the restaurant?”
 

He stopped and turned to answer her.

Had she no shame?
 

No. She didn’t want to be on her own. All her big talk about how she could live in London and never be lonely was just that, big talk.
 

Jason shrugged as he looked her over. “I’ll go out later, when Woolly’s settled.”
 

“Aren’t you supposed to be there—I mean, at the restaurant?” She frowned. “I thought you were hosting the party?”
 

He came down a couple of steps so they didn’t have to shout. “I asked Lily to host it for me. She was telling me last night that she always used to host this big Christmas party each year, and she happened to mention how much she missed it.”

“So you did this for her...”
 

He shrugged her comment off with a quick smile.

“That was very nice of you, Mr. Kent.”
 

“Compliments, Ms. Black?” His mouth slanted in a smile. “I guess I’m not all bad.”
 

“Just part of you,” she suggested.
 

“I’m not sure what part you’re referring to.”

“The king-sized ego?” She smiled a little. Suddenly that king-sized ego didn’t seem to be such a problem. It was just a front, Kate suspected, and mostly so Jason Kent could keep the world at bay. He’d been hurt...maybe as a child, she suspected, and it had made him a defensive adult.

“Something puzzling you, Ms. Black?”

“You,” she admitted frankly.

He shrugged that off too, and shooting her one last amused look, he turned and ran up the stairs.
 

When all else fails eat chocolate. This mantra had never failed her. Whether in London or in the wilds of the countryside, chocolate was always the answer. It soothed where vodka only made things worse by giving her an ugly headache.

Chocolate had never seemed more essential than it did today. And what could be better than eating chocolate whilst making a jelly trifle for supper? There was no one to tell her to eat her greens. And as for her five-a-day, she’d have ten tomorrow.
 

With her hands in the bowl of cream, jelly in her hair and icing sugar down the front of her sweater, she was just about to suck her fingers when Yappy started barking frantically. Her heart thundered wildly on cue. This could only mean one thing.
 

She glanced in the mirror on her way to open the front door. Oh, well...

“Oh, it’s you.”
 

“Were you expecting someone else?” Jason demanded.

Acting nonchalant, she stood well back, hoping her food smears were out of view, and she was careful not to open the door too wide. Jason was squeaky clean and utterly desirable. Eased onto one tight hip, with his powerful forearm resting against the doorframe, he was a mesmerizing sight, and smelled even better...clean, warm, and—
 

In the nick of time, she remembered his giant-sized ego. It needed no buttering up from a starry-eyed country girl staring at him as if he were love’s young dream. “If I did happen to be expecting someone else visiting tonight,” she said, hoping she sounded suitably mysterious. “I can’t imagine why it would interest you.”

He ignored this. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

She took in the casual pose, the arresting face, powerful body, and storming self-confidence of a man who had likely never been refused anything in his adult life. “For more tormenting?” she queried coolly. “No.”

He laughed.

Wiping a sugar-dusted hand across her overheated forehead, she struggled to ignore the volcano of lust that had just erupted inside her. “I’m rather busy at the moment, as you can see...”

“I do see.” His mouth tugged at one corner as he regarded the front of her shirt, which was liberally coated with pretty much every ingredient she had put in the trifle. And then, just when she was about to change her mind, throw caution to the wind and ask him in, he straightened up and turned to go. “Have a merry Christmas Day, Ms. Black.”